LAHORE: The Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency (Phata) has been asked to submit plans for construction of low-cost housing schemes in eight districts under the ‘Apna Ghar Apni Chhat programme’ launched by the provincial government.

The direction was given to Phata by Punjab Minister for Housing Bilal Yasin in a meeting held on Monday. The districts where the scheme is planned to be launched include Faisalabad, Sialkot, Layyah, Bhakkar and Khanewal.

During the meeting, the Phata director general said 4,800 applicants have received first installment for construction of houses whereas 500 applicants have received second installment. Moreover 73,498 applications are being scrutinized these days.

POWER THEFT: Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) teams on Monday detected another 401 connections from where the customers were pilfering electricity in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Kasur and Okara.

A spokesperson for Lesco told media here on Monday that the company has also submitted FIR applications against electricity thieves, out of which 118 FIRs have been registered, while 19 suspects have been arrested by the respective police. During the anti-power theft campaign, the spokesman added, large commercial consumers were also found involved in electricity theft. Among the seized connections, 16 are commercial, seven agricultural and 378 domestic. All these connections were disconnected and charged with 274,331 units as detection bill amounting to Rs12.409 million.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2025